IT’S an unusually sunny day for October and in rural Boston the funfair has come to town for Halloween half-term.
Smiling kids armed with candy floss as big as their heads are making their way through the pedestrianised centre, their parents trailing behind.
Paul TongeBoston, Lincolnshire was once a thriving town[/caption]
Paul TongeA jewellery store in the town centre which was closed down by a Court order[/caption]
Paul TongeWH Smith is due to close[/caption]
Paul TongeAnna Brit, owner of Cafe Noglish[/caption]
It should be boom time for shops in the Lincolnshire town but instead they are facing a pre-budget horror show.
Nearly one in three shops lie empty while 10 per cent of restaurants have shut in Boston since the pandemic.
Local businesses say they are struggling with rising energy costs, huge rents and a downturn in sales as the cost-of-living crisis continues to batter shoppers.
Now they fear a pre-Halloween nightmare if Chancellor Rachel Reeves goes ahead with a looming tax hike in Wednesday’s budget.
Retailers currently get a 75 per cent discount on their business rates but it’s due to end on April 1 next year – sending bills soaring.
Cafe owner Anna Britt, 56, told us: “If the Government makes me pay full rates then I may have to close.
“The costs are rising all the time and it’s already difficult.
“This place is my absolute passion. It was my dream to run a cafe and I took a chance by opening up a few days before the second lockdown was announced.
“If we have to shut I will cry my eyes out.”
‘Criminal activity’
Boston is already full of boarded up and shuttered stores plastered with ‘for let’ signs, their fittings torn from walls.
Paul TongeA jewellery store closed following illegal activity[/caption]
Paul TongeThe closed B&M store in the town centre[/caption]
Paul TongeClosed shops in the town centre[/caption]
In May, nine shops across Boston and neighbouring South Holland were closed down for the sale of illegal tobacco and vapes – with one closure resulting in a police chase as a criminal fled the scene.
And just this month, two more stores were forcibly shut down and are now emblazoned with posters alerting shoppers they’ve been closed due to ‘criminal activity’.
Marks & Spencer, HMV and local department store Oldrids have all disappeared in recent years and WH Smith is set to follow in December.
Six charity shops sit in units that might otherwise be empty while there are at least four nail bars and various hairdressers. There are also two pound shops.
One man quipped: “It’s okay here if you want sparkly nails, but that’s about it.”
It’s perhaps unfair to single out Boston as being “rubbish” for shopping – as many locals told us – it’s a story played out on diminishing high streets up and down the country.
Towns like this were once the jewels of rural England but – without help – high streets face being further decimated in light of covid, online shopping and rising bills.
‘Bonfire of jobs’
Paul TongeBoston is known for St Botolph’s Church[/caption]
Paul TongeMotion Active shop co-owner Haseeb Mohammed[/caption]
Famous for its imposing St Botolph’s Church, known as the ‘Boston stump’, the town also stakes a claim in England’s rich history as the most important port outside London in the 13th century.
It was from here that the Pilgrim Fathers left for America in 1630 and named Boston, Massachusetts, after their home.
Now it’s businesses who might flee if Wednesday’s budget goes against them.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been warned she risks a “bonfire of jobs” by hitting Britain with one of the biggest tax-hiking budgets in history to raise a staggering £40 billion.
Hopes the Government would extend the business rate discount scheme were dashed when no such announcement was made in the Spring Budget.
Haseeb Mohammed, who owns a clothing store in Boston, says Reeve’s decision will mean the difference between shutting one of their family stores – or opening two more.
He said: “The 75pc discount meant we were able to open a second shop in Kettering in April and, if it continues, we envisage opening another two.
“If it’s scrapped altogether the extra financial burden means we may struggle to keep Kettering going at all and that’s someone’s job.
“What we need from Labour is a long-term commitment on business rates so we can plan our future, instead of going year to year with so much uncertainty.
“ We just need to know where we stand.”
Another shop owner told us the collapse of the Arcadia group, with high street favourites like Miss Selfridge, Wallis and Topshop vanishing in 2021, had a huge impact in the area.
She said: “Flagship shops like Topshop brought people into town centres but now they’ve gone.
“We’ve been hit on all fronts. Covid and changing habits in online shopping haven’t helped but families are really struggling with the cost of living and many are taking on extra jobs here and there, so they’ve got less time to browse for what they want.
“The business rates on the department store that shut down here are now £340,000 a year and, with utilities on top, it’s crazy.”
‘Empty shops everywhere’
Paul TongeShopper Glynis King speaks to The Sun[/caption]
Paul TongeShopper Lena White speaks to The Sun[/caption]
Paul TongeIsmail Seyhan with sons Efe (left) and Yunus[/caption]
Major names like Ted Baker, Carpetright, Lloyds Pharmacy and The Body Shop have all gone from Britain’s high street this year.
Shoppers in Boston have certainly noticed the difference in the area.
Ex-cleaner Glynis King, 73, said even the town’s popular Wednesday and Saturday markets were suffering.
She said: “It’s just not the same as it was.
Why the high street still rules!
Fabulous’ Fashion Director, Tracey Lea Sayer shares her thoughts.
I WAS 10 when I first discovered the utter joy of high street shopping for clothes with my mum and nan.
Going into town on Saturday became a family tradition – a girls’ day out we would look forward to all week.
My mum’s favourite shop was M&S, where she would gaze at jackets with big shoulder pads and floral sundresses, while my nan would make a beeline for John Lewis and their classic coats and elegant court shoes.
I was all over Tammy Girl – Etam’s little sister – and Chelsea Girl, which was later rebranded to high street fave River Island.
I would spend hours in the changing rooms, watched keenly by my two cheerleaders, who gave the thumbs up – or thumbs down – on what I was trying on.
Frilly Ra-Ra skirts, duster coats, polka dot leggings, puff balls, boob tubes… I tried them all, often making my nan howl with laughter.
Fashion wasn’t so fast back in the 1980s and every item was cherished and worn until it fell apart – literally – at the seams.
At 18, I went to art college and my tastes became more refined.
Extra cash from a part-time job in a bar meant I could move on to slightly more expensive stores, like Warehouse, Miss Selfridge and the mecca that was Topshop.
I knew at this point I wanted to work in fashion because the high street had totally seduced me.
One day, I wrote an article for a competition in a glossy mag about my love of retail therapy and my favourite LBD – and I won!
That led me to where I am today – Fashion Director of Fabulous.
It’s not just me that loves the high street – big-name designers are fans, too. When ‘Cool Britannia’ hit in the Nineties, they all turned up in one big store.
‘Designers at Debenhams’ was a stroke of genius by Debenhams CEO Belinda Earl, designer Ben de Lisi and fashion director Spencer Hawken, who introduced diffusion ranges from John Rocha, Matthew Williamson and Betty Jackson to name a few.
This meant we could all afford a bit of luxury and wear a well-known designer’s signature style.
Years later I hosted a night with Debenhams and Fabulous for 250 readers, who were in awe meeting all the designers. It was a real career highlight for me.
In 2004, H&M started rolling out their international designer collabs.
Karl Lagerfeld was first, followed by Roberto Cavalli, Marni, Stella McCartney, Maison Martin Margiela, Sonia Rykiel, Comme des Garçons, Balmain, Versace and many, many more. I could barely contain myself!
Then in 2007, Kate Moss launched her first collection with Topshop, with thousands queuing along London’s Oxford Street.
I remember sitting behind Ms Moss and Topshop boss Philip Green at a London Fashion Week Topshop Unique catwalk show.
I had my three-year-old daughter, Frankie, in tow and we both made the news the next day after we were papped behind Kate, my supermodel girl crush.
At the time, the high street was on fire. Who needed designer buys when Mango stocked tin foil trousers just like the designer Isabel Marant ones and you could buy a bit of Barbara Hulanicki’s legendary brand Biba from Topshop?
High street stores even started to storm London Fashion week.
Although Topshop Unique had shown collections since 2001, in 2013 River Island showed its first collection in collaboration with global superstar Rihanna, who was flown in by a friend of mine on a private jet. KER-CHING!
A whole new generation of high profile high street collabs followed.
Beyoncé created Ivy Park with Topshop’s Philip Green and I even flew to LA for Fabulous to shoot the Kardashian sisters in their bodycon “Kollection” for Dorothy Perkins.
I am pleased to say they were the absolute dream cover stars.
Fast forward to 2024 and while the high street doesn’t look exactly like it did pre-Covid, it has made a gallant comeback.
Stores like M&S, Reserved and Zara, and designer collabs like Victoria Beckham X Mango and Rochelle Humes for Next are giving me all the feels.
The supermarkets have really come into their own, too, smashing it with gorgeous collections that look expensive, but at prices that still allow us to afford the weekly shop.
The last 30 years of high street fashion have been one big adventure for me. Bring on the next 30!
“Topshop went, then Wilkos shut. Marks & Spencer has gone…it’s all gone.
“There’s just empty shops everywhere which makes it really depressing.”
Lena White-Nystrom, 76, a former hospital worker, said she felt it was “too late” to turn things around.
She said: “I moved to Boston from Kent 20 years ago and it was a thriving place but it’s all pound shops and charity stores now.”
Dad Ismail Seyhan, 42, a delivery man, said the rising cost of living meant few families had any spare cash to spend in the town.
Ismail, who was returning from the fair with children Yunus, five, and ten-year-old Effe, said: “Everything is so expensive now.
“I try to support local businesses as much as I can because it’s important but there’s not much money around for anyone at the minute.”
Mum Keira Richardson, 20, was shopping for a few household cleaning supplies and was pushing her two-year-old Isla through the centre when she spoke to us.
She said: “I never shop for much here. It’s just not very good is it? It’s mainly vape shops and Polish food stores.”
‘Intimidating’ gangs
Paul TongeKeira Richardson and two year old daughter Isla[/caption]
Shoppers repeatedly told us they were also put off by gangs of men and women, who spend hours chatting and smoking near the Stump which one woman said she found “intimidating.”
The rate relief mostly benefits small businesses because there’s a limit of £110,000 worth of help.
The British Retail Consortium wants a change to the system which will see rates slashed by 20 percent across the board.
The bosses of Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s were among 70 chief executives who urged Chancellor Reeves to “level the playing field” for retail when it came to tax.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the Consortium, said retail had been the “goose laying the golden eggs” for years – but it was time for change.
She said: “The industry pays more than its fair share – retail accounts for five percent of the economy, but pays 7.4 percent of all business taxes, and over 20pc of all business rates.
“This is the highest of any business sector.
“The ever-mounting burden of taxes is strangling the industry.”
‘Restaurants and pubs integral’
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said restaurants and pubs are “integral” to a successful high street.
She said: “All we are asking for is a fair deal.
“We want Rachel Reeves to launch a roadmap to root and branch reform to taxes.
“When the relief ends it will see costs go up by £11,000 for the average pub and £25,000 for average restaurant. It’s a £1bn tax bombshell.
“We could see thousands of businesses fail. For many, it will see the end of their dream.”
In Boston, the town is desperately trying to attract new investment and shop owners are hoping the imminent opening of a new adventure mini golf centre will attract people to the centre.
South Holland district council said the town, which welcomed 1.3million visitors in 2022, boasts a “higher than average” number of leisure, food and entertainment outlets as well as historic attractions.
It said millions in Government funding is being spent to rejuvenate the area.
Council leader Anne Dorrian pointed out the authority doesn’t set business rates or own the stores.
There’s no doubt that she too will be looking to Rachel Reeves to give the town’s existing businesses a helping hand.
Without it, England’s once-proud towns could be wiped out forever.